The research and teaching environment at CERGE-EI will get a boost this fall with the arrival of two new faculty members: Marek Kapička (PhD, University of Chicago) and Nikolas Mittag (PhD, University of Chicago). Dr. Mittag is an Assistant Professor, and Dr. Kapička arrives as Associate Professor with tenure, returning to Prague after 10 years on the faculty at the University of California Santa Barbara. He also assumes the position of Deputy Director of Research. CERGE-EI is delighted to welcome these new talented scholars to our academic community.

Learn more about our new faculty members, including their educational background and research interests:

Marek Kapička is an Associate Professor with Tenure at CERGE-EI as of September 2013. Dr. Kapička specializes in macroeconomics, public finance, and contract theory. He is a graduate of Charles University (degree in Economics, 1998) and received his doctorate from the University of Chicago (Economics, 2003).

In 2003, Dr. Kapička won the Young Economist Award from the European Economic Association. He has published journal articles on topics such as ‘Optimal Income Taxation’, ‘Taxation Capital’, and ‘Human Capital Policies’. His work can be found in journals such as Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Monetary Economics, Review of Economic Dynamics and American Economic Journal in Macroeconomics.

Dr. Kapicka is also a Senior Researcher at the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic since July 2013. His previous posts include Associate Professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

Nikolas Mittag is an Assistant Professor at CERGE-EI as of September 2013. He has been an Assistant Professor at CERGE, Charles University, since July 2013 and began as a Researcher at the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic as of September 2013. He is interested in various research topics, such as applied econometrics, microeconomics, public economics, and program evaluation.

Dr. Mittag received his B.A. from the University of Bayreuth (degree in Philosophy & Economics, 2007) and his Ph.D. in Public Policy Studies from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

He was a fellow (Program on Political Institutions) at the Harris School of Public Policy in 2009 and received a dissertation fellowship from the U.S. Census Bureau, USA (2011-2013).

As summer slides into fall, new PhD and MA students eagerly prepare to start their studies at CERGE-EI. This year, we are pleased to welcome 46 new incoming students from across the world as they embark on their graduate studies here.

Some will be students for several years as they pursue their doctoral degree in economics, while the Masters of Applied Economics students will receive their degree in one year. But whether they are here for only one year or for several, CERGE-EI will be an important stop on their way to a successful future career. As students and scholars from CERGE-EI assume leadership positions, their outlook on international issues will have been shaped by CERGE-EI’s multinational environment and their periods of international study.

The new students, of which 40% are women, come from 18 different countries spanning four continents. Those countries are: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States.

If you see the new students around the CERGE-EI hallways and offices, remember to warmly greet them!

Learn more about the entire CERGE-EI’s student body here.